Reality TV and Accessibility Have a Lot in Common

How many times have you heard people say, “I hate reality TV! I want real shows. I wish they’d make something else.”? I don’t understand why people remained glued to reality TV shows despite their professed hatred of them. “But there’s nothing else on,” people say. “I’ve gotta watch something!”

Hold out, I say, hold out! Get creative, folks: Make your own entertainment; watch non-reality TV shows on those ever popular on-demand sites; read a book!

The federal government is the largest employer in the United States, so it’s likely that the government employs the most people with disabilities. This is especially noteworthy since agencies are required to have accessible electronic and information technology products for any works that they use, make, buy, or maintain. This is true for public facing systems and systems that federal employees use.

In my observation, federal employees mostly focus on making their public facing products conform to Section 508 standards. When it comes to systems that federal employees do use, they’re usually concerned that time and cost will delay projects, and they prefer to rely on reasonable accommodations as a substitute for accessible works. This is where we don’t realize the amount of influence and responsibility we have, particularly with vendors who want to sell their products to the government.

Do you see where I’m going with this?

Vendors, not to mention our in-house developers, won’t stop making reality shows, I mean inaccessible products that federal employees use until we demand otherwise. We can even offer help to vendors and our own developers, and guide them in the process of producing fully accessible works.

Now that you have an accessibility plan for your IT projects, vendors, and in-house developers, you can veg out on the sofa and watch that marathon featuring your favorite non-celebrity reality stars. Don’t forget the healthy snacks…free of high fructose corn syrup, of course.

I’m also glad about the high fructose corn syrup boycott. I definitely prefer anything homemade over processed foods. I don’t think some people realize how widely used HFCS (or any sugar) is. I hope inaccessibility, HFCS, and reality TV all take the same one-inch path on a high mountain side. 🙂